


Punching Bag

by agentpluto



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-season 10 episode 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 18:34:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6162778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentpluto/pseuds/agentpluto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team have just come back from the Insurrectionist base and Carolina is training harder than ever before. But York knows something's up, and wants to help however he can.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Punching Bag

_Thump thumpthump thump thump._

The steady rhythm of thumps echoes through the Freelancer's gym, each one accompanied by the rattle of a chain and a steady, if not tired, sounding huff of a breath. Of course, York knows it's Carolina from the moment he hears the noises, but it wasn't until she came into his vision that he starts to worry. Her hair is pulled back from her face and into a fiery ponytail, her fists wrapped in cloth slamming into the punching bag.

_Thump thump thump. Thump thump._

Her back is turned to him and he can see the way her muscles move under her skin. All strength and grace, a body that could easily rip someone in two with their bare hands. But he guesses she feels his presence as he enters as assault slows, if only for a moment. He sits down on one of the weights benches a few feet away, throwing his towel over one shoulder and watching her. Shorts and a sports-bra on, she ducks out of the way of a non-existent arm and hurls her knuckles into the bag.

_Thump thump. Thumpthumpthumpthump thump thump._

“'Lina, 's two in the mornin',” he says to her as gentle as he can. “Give it a rest.”  
“No,” she replies roughly, not turning to him.

_Thumpthump thump thump._

“Why not?”  
“Because I'm not going to,” he sees the cloth wrapped around her hands are crimson only at the knuckles, and the colour is spreading. His eyes widen, his figure standing from the bench.

_Thump thump thump thump thump thump._

“'Lina, can you stop please?” He asks with a voice not as gentle as before.

She doesn't respond.

_Thump thump thumpthumpthumpthumpthump thump thump_

“'Lina.”

_Thump thump thump thumpthumpthumpthump_

“Carolina, stop. Now.”

And she stops suddenly, a fist still connected to the punching bag and her head dipped. He stands up and steps over to her, putting his hand on the one that's pressed against the bag.  
“'Lina, talk to me,” his voice comes out as barely a whisper, but he hears a little sob that comes from her.  
“I can't.” She drops her arm to her side and turns to him. Her face was flushed pink from exertion and her eyes were red and puffy. He can see the little trails that tears might have fallen from, but he's not too sure.

Carolina never cried. Ever.

“'Lina, you can always talk to me,” he tries to assure her, but in an instant her eyes are clenched shut and she sends a fist flying through the air and at the punching bag. The punch connects, breaking links on the chain that once held it up and sends it hurdling towards the other side of the gym. It skids along the ground until it slows and then stops against the far wall. And just like that, she falls to her knees.

“I can't... let her be better than me,” she says. York kneels down next to her and puts his arm around her shoulders.  
“It's just a board, it means nothi-”  
“It's not about the board anymore," She snaps, green eyes glittering with anger as she glared at him. " _She_ killed her. _She_ killed one of us.”  
York blinks, “...killed?”  
She looks down at her hands and he watches her take off the wrappings. The crimson on the fabric looked wet, and when her skin was exposed, glistening blood dripped from her knuckles and onto the mat on the floor.  
“CT.”

His muscles tense and he squats down to her level, reaching a hand down to hold hers and not daring to touch the raw red skin.  
“Tex actually did it then, huh?”  
Carolina nods, “two axes to the chest. She and the insurrectionist leader got to the escape transport, but there was a lot of blood. I doubt anyone could survive that, even with a healing unit.”  
He pulls the hand holding hers away to grab the towel swung over his shoulder. He holds it out to her.  
“Who knows, Maine was shot in the throat eleven times and he's still alive and kicking,” it's the only thing he can think of to say, but somewhere deep in the pit of his stomach he feels like they both know that wouldn't be the case for Connie. “Here, hold out your hands.”  
“No, I'm fi-”  
“Please.”  
  
She's reluctant, but she holds out her still-dripping hands for him and he wraps them in the towel. It's a little old, but it's clean and he's not worried about any kind of infection, or the fact that it's getting smeared with blood. It's enough to staunch the flow of blood for the moment, at least until they get to the med-bay.

“But why would you do this to yourself, 'Lina? You're literally working yourself to the bone.”  
“I told you, I have to be better than _her_. It's not for me anymore. I have to be number one for the rest of you.”  
He smiles lopsidedly, moving a hand to the back of her neck and cradling her head, letting his fingers get lost behind the cascade of bright red hair. And just like that, he leans forward and presses a kiss to her forehead.

“You know you're already number one in my book, right?,” he whispers.

She lets out a huff of a laugh and shakes her head.

“Hmm?”

“That was terrible if that was supposed to be a pickup line.”

“I know, 'Lina, it's what I do.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a fic I wrote like almost four years ago, I just pulled it out, dusted it off and edited it a little. I've got a bunch more sitting on my old hard drive so if this goes down well I'll probably see what I can do about uploading some of my other Yorkalina and Connington fics B)))
> 
> Shout out to Legendaerie for upsetting me with their fics and helping me get off my ass and post my old rvb fics


End file.
